The present invention relates to anticancer drugs consisting of sugar and protein which is composed primarily of a xylose component contained in the nutrient medium and tissue-medium of Basideomycetes such as Lentinus edodes which has been cultured in a solid medium which is rich in xylose, such as bagasse.
The present inventors have researched the mycelia of edible mushrooms belonging to Basidiomycetes such as Lentinus edodes, and accomplished many inventions as to the method of extracting pharmacologically active components contained in the mycelia, while the present inventors found out that an active substance of the cytokinin system is contained in the extract of the mycelia and that its extract is effective on vegetable viruses (Japanese Published Specification No. 55-34769).
It has been also known that the fruiting bodies and mycelia of Basidiomycetes and bagasse contain individually an anticancer substance and that the substance is a glucan or peptide glucan which is a structural component of a cell wall.
The main action mechanism of the anticancer substance extracted from the above-described substances is usually an increase of immunity, that is, it serves as an adjuvant; synthetic anticancer drugs developed hitheretofore attack not only cancerous cells but normal ones and cause severe side effects.